Artifact Report

Chapter 88 Jin Xueli: Realizing the Order of Two Things
When did it—

Even the hunter's reaction speed is sometimes no match for the moment when the trap's iron teeth close.

As soon as Jin Xueli touched the policewoman, she immediately retracted her hand as if she had been electrocuted; but before she could step back, something suddenly reached out from the darkness in front of her and grabbed her other arm.

It was... it was the policewoman's other hand.

It turned out that it had put both hands into the railings, and the mobile phone was both a "bait" and a positioning point; as long as Jin Xueli touched the mobile phone, she would be within the policewoman's grasping range.

Although the person who grabbed her still had a human body, he burst out with a power that was not human; Jin Xueli couldn't help but scream in pain, and felt that her left arm was like a piece of dough, about to be pinched off - even if the skin was torn and blood splattered in the next second, she would not be surprised, how could she struggle to escape?
"If you don't accept my offer, you'll have to pay me back," the policewoman laughed breathlessly. "What they said when they asked you to fingerprint was absolutely correct."

...Did this resident take over the policewoman's entire person and memory?

Jin Xueli was in so much pain that she couldn't utter a word, but at the same time, she realized that she was being pulled forward rapidly; her weight and resistance seemed almost non-existent in the face of the resident's strange strength, and she could only stumble forward - it was hard to believe that the hand holding her arm was smaller than her own.

At this moment, she did something that ordinary people would hardly think of doing.

No matter how quick a person's reaction is, when an emergency occurs, there must be a process of "recognition" and then "reaction".

If we really analyze it in depth, "cognition" actually includes two parts: one is to perceive the essence of the situation; the other is to judge your next action based on the situation.

The most crucial difference between hunters and ordinary people is not their skills and physical fitness - the biggest difference is probably that the time required for hunters to "recognize" and "react" is as fast as lightning.

It is often this point that determines who can return home alive from the nest and who can transform from an ordinary person into a pseudo-hunter.

Jin Xueli gave up struggling simply and decisively.

As she was being pulled straight towards the iron bars, she bent down with all her strength, swung her arms vigorously on the ground, and swept the mobile phone that had been ignored for the moment several steps away and into the cell.

The next second, half of her face, ear and shoulder hit the iron railing with a "bang".

She was half-lying on the ground, her entire arm pulled out from between the railings; because her blood circulation was largely cut off, her fingertips were cold and numb.

For a moment, she couldn't even tell whether the iron smell came from the railing or from her own mouth and nose.

"look,"

The policewoman's face, with its narrow crack-like mouth and layers of eyelids and eyelashes, was almost touching Jin Xueli's face through the iron railings.

"Wouldn't it have been better if you had answered the phone with hope just now? That would have been tantamount to humanitarian euthanasia. Now your fear is so intense that I can smell it even without entering the world..."

"What do you want?" Jin Xueli asked in a trembling voice.

Half of her was afraid and really wanted an answer; the other half was because she wanted to delay time.

As she spoke, Jin Xueli stretched out one leg and searched the ground for the phone she had just swept away.

The policewoman didn't answer her.

It was squatting outside the iron gate at this moment, and its eye level with Jin Xueli, who was half-lying on the ground; it lowered its head and groped for something, and then a screen light lit up from the lower corner of Jin Xueli's vision - the policewoman was almost close to her face, and was immediately illuminated again.

Layers of eyelids and eyelashes formed two bulging balls, as if they were looking at Jin Xueli.

Yes, the policewoman was holding another phone just now...

At this moment, Jin Xueli's toes finally hooked the mobile phone, and she hurriedly kicked it towards her side little by little; she turned her eyes, and in a flash, she saw the lit mobile phone clearly.

The wallpaper on the phone screen was a selfie of the policewoman and a man—their faces pressed together, eyes shining, one smiling, the other pouting, looking like a couple. "Because it's not your phone, you have to call."

The policewoman said something that no one could understand at first, then she lowered her head and unlocked her phone with a password - no facial recognition technology would unlock a phone for eyes that were crowded with layers of eyelids.

Is it planning to force the phone to its ear?
Jin Xueli was covered in sweat, feeling hot and cold at times.

With her free hand, she managed to find the edge of the phone, but honestly, she had no idea what to do with it.

Seeing that she could soon "invade and contaminate" another human, the policewoman seemed in high spirits and explained, "Any communication or data exchange that occurs within the nest's communication network will allow you to be contacted by the nest's residents. It's a pity that you can't make calls, otherwise I'd really like to hear Xiaoji's voice..."

It still held Jin Xueli's arm tightly, trapping her shoulder between the iron railings, leaving her no room to turn her head and avoid it.

At this moment, Jin Xueli had already held the mobile phone in her hand; but the phone that she had risked her life to get was cold and silent, and still did not bring her any hope.

"I had no choice but to call my colleagues who were also in the Nest communication network."

The policewoman said, selecting a name from her contact list and pressing call. The first dial tone rang out, faint as if suffocated by the darkness. The policewoman smiled, and the hand holding the phone passed through the railing and pressed directly against Jin Xueli's face.

It's a dead end, this is a dead end——

In that moment of despair, Jin Xueli was left with only the instinct to survive.

Two facts popped into her mind one after another, and were grasped tightly by the drowning Jin Xueli like driftwood.

Thinking back, if she had realized that the order of these two things had been changed, she probably would not have survived the Central Police Station.

The first thing she heard was the dial tone.

She heard the dial tone of the policewoman's cell phone, but she was still alive and well - at least, before the phone pressed down on her, she was still herself, a living, warm human being.

In other words, even if the phone is in call mode, it’s okay as long as it’s not close to your ear?

It sounds complicated, but Jin Xueli had no time to think at that time; all her actions were more like subconscious conditioned reflexes - at the critical moment, she suddenly raised her hand and used the mobile phone in her other hand to cover her ears exposed to the female police officer in time.

No one knows whether this will work.

The next second after the phone was blocking her ear, the policewoman's phone was pressed against her ear with a "click" sound; through the phone, the second call tone rang next to Jin Xueli's ear, and this time, it was much louder.

...still alive.

If her arm hadn't been held, Jin Xueli would have collapsed completely; but the fear, worry, and trepidation she felt at that moment were undoubtedly all human emotions.

The second thing she realized was that after the policewoman dialed the number, the standard iPhone ringtone rang softly in a distant corner of the Central Police Station.

...Sound can be transmitted?

Without taking the time to consider why she could hear suddenly, Jin Xueli immediately seized the opportunity and shouted at a voice that could almost tear her throat: "Chase Monroe! Come and save me! I'm going to be killed by you!"

　These past few days, I've been seeing everyone encouraging me to take more rest and comforting me not to worry about updates. This has really given me a lot of strength. When I was in a particularly bad state, I couldn't muster the energy to reply to everyone, but seeing your messages made me feel supported and accepted. I can really appreciate your gentleness in not wanting me to have any worries.

　　Thank you. I really appreciate your comfort and support. I don’t know how I deserve it…

　　I'm already trying my best to adjust my condition. Don't worry, I'm Hu Hansan... No, I, Natalie, will recover.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)